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18-year-old charged in group home murder
FOX 13's Carla Bayron shares more of the troubling details after an 81-year-old man was stabbed at a Bartow group home by a teen who had just moved into the home that evening.
BARTOW, Fla. - An 18-year-old is in custody after stabbing an 81-year-old man 113 times just hours after moving into an independent group living home in Bartow, according to the Polk County Sheriff's Office.
Sheriff Grady Judd detailed the attack during a press conference on Monday afternoon, saying the suspect, Moses Ojeda, confessed to the killing during questioning.
Courtesy: Polk County Sheriff's Office.
Big picture view:
The suspect's mother told investigators that she felt unsafe around her son, so she made arrangements to bring him to the independent group home that is owned by ET Care.
Before she left, the suspect's mother told the people living there to hide the knives because he had been violent toward her and the family in the past.
Between the time that Ojeda arrived and when the residents went to bed, the victim and other lady staying there decided that Ojeda wasn't a good fit and had to find somewhere else to stay.
Investigators have identified the victim as Patrick Benway.
PCSO says that during the stabbing the victim asked, according to Ojeda, "Why would you want to do this to me?" Ojeda said he had no regrets, and he wanted to kill him because he was "already dying."
"Moses said that the person he stabbed and killed was a good person. But he was just told that he heard sounds, voices in his head to kill the victim, and that's what he did," Judd said.
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This year alone, Ojeda was involuntarily detained and assessed for a mental health evaluation, according to Judd.
When asked why he stabbed the victim over 100 times, Ojeda told detectives "the knife wasn't very sharp."
Ojeda told detectives that after the attack, he cleaned the knife and put it back in the kitchen before he changed out of his blood-stained clothing and placed it in his laundry basket.
Janice Pepin has lived at the independent group home on Blue Bird Avenue in Bartow for just a week.
What they're saying:
"That night I didn't sleep well. I kept hearing doors opening and closing," said Pepin. "I don't know I just kept feeling something was wrong."
Pepin's instincts ended up being correct. She didn't know Benway was dead in his room until lunchtime the following day.
Pepin describes him as a loner who lived in the woods off the land for a while as well as on a sailboat.
"He never married. He was a gentle, quiet man. He loved nature. He was on oxygen and weak, and I'm sure he was easy to be taken down," she said.
She’s grateful she was spared because she could've become a victim as well.
"I just thank God that I was kind to him, and he responded to that kindness," she said. "I didn't criticize him. I didn't give him hell for making noise that night. I made muffins for him, and I think that's probably what saved me. The kindness towards him."
What's next:
He has been charged with first-degree murder and tampering with physical evidence.
The investigation is ongoing and the Polk County Sheriff's Office is assisting the Bartow Police Department.
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The Source: Information for this story was provided by the Polk County Sheriff's Office.
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